Old Fashioned Rice Pudding
Rich and creamy old-fashioned rice pudding, lightly flavored with vanilla and nutmeg, and of course lots of plump dark raisins. Sometimes called Poor Man’s Rice Pudding, this version has no eggs and is slow-baked to create a creamy old-fashioned comfort-food.
I remember my mom making rice pudding when I was a young girl. This recipe is as close as I can come to duplicating those memories in both taste and how my mom prepared it. My mom would make this rice pudding in the evening after dinner for a late-night treat. She baked the pudding long and slow as the rice soaked up all the sugar and milk, opening the oven door to stir frequently, and adding more milk as needed, with the top edge of the baking dish getting brown and crusty from the sugar and milk hitting those edges. Mom always made rice pudding with nutmeg and raisins, therefore for me that’s the gold standard.
I remember my mom making rice pudding when I was a young girl. This recipe is as close as I can come to duplicating those memories in both taste and how my mom prepared it. My mom would make this rice pudding in the evening after dinner for a late-night treat. She baked the pudding long and slow as the rice soaked up all the sugar and milk, opening the oven door to stir frequently, and adding more milk as needed, with the top edge of the baking dish getting brown and crusty from the sugar and milk hitting those edges. Mom always made rice pudding with nutmeg and raisins, therefore for me that’s the gold standard.
Recipe type: Dessert | Baked Pudding
Serves: 6 to 8 servings
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Recipe Notes
Pan: one 3-quart baking dish Pan Prep: Buttered Oven Temp: 300° Storage: Cover and Refrigerate
Ingredients
2 tablespoons softened butter to prepare baking pan
Rice Pudding:
- 6 cups milk, preferably whole milk, divided
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup medium-grain rice
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ¼ + ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ heaping cup dark raisins
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Prepare one 3-quart baking dish; coat bottom and sides of dish with 2 tablespoons of softened butter.
- In a medium-sized heavy-bottomed pan, heat 4 cups of milk on the stove-top over medium-low heat just until the mixture starts to steam and bubble around the edge of the pan. Remove from the heat. Stir in the sugar, salt, and rice. Tip: The milk can be heated in the microwave in a microwave-safe bowl instead of the stove-top.
- Pour the milk mixture into the buttered baking dish. Use a rubber spatula to distribute the rice evenly in the pan. Tip: the rice will sink to the bottom of the dish as this point and you won’t be able to visually see the rice, so evenly distribute the rice as best as possible.
- Stir the pudding mixture every 10 minutes during the first hour, then stir every 15 minutes for the rest of the baking time. Tip: The butter used to butter the pan will melt and float on top of the milk, then will gradually be stirred into the pudding as it bakes. Tip: after 30 to 45 minutes of baking the rice will begin clumping together. Stirring regularly will help keep the rice grains loose.
- After 2 hours of baking, stir in the remaining 2 cups milk.
- After 2½ hours of baking, add the vanilla extract, nutmeg, and raisins; stir to mix. Continue baking for the last half hour, still stirring after 15 minutes. Tip: it’s important to stir the rice pudding regularly while it bakes to prevent the rice from clumping together.
- Remove from oven and set baking dish on a wire cooling rack. The pudding will continue to thicken as it cools. Refrigerate when cooled to room temperature.
- Serving: Rice pudding can be served warm or cold. Refrigerate leftovers.